


A Beastly Situation

by Arytra



Series: Section 123 [11]
Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Everyone takes care of everyone else, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Sesame Street is One Big Family, did i mention the fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 22:44:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14903543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Turning into a bird?  Fine.  Figuring out that something major has happened?  Fine.  Having to figure out how to eat?  Fine.  Dealing with Bob as a nightingale?  Well that's just too much!





	A Beastly Situation

**Author's Note:**

> This is all Dragonia's fault. And Releasing-the-Insanity's fault for being encouraging and helping me figure stuff out. So, thank you both.

Penelope sat in her office, glancing at the clock with a glare and working to finish her work so that they could all go home. Since the events that had showed her that she had been a Protector of the Street for years, as had Travis and her two younger, troublesome agents, she had looked forward to being able to go home to Sesame Street and the rest of the family even if she wouldn't always admit it. Travis sat next to her, working on his own paperwork and glancing at the clock about twice as often as she did, while Kathy and Donovan sat on the other side. Neither was goofing off, as was normal when they were at the Supernatural Department either than a snarky comment here or there, but she wasn't certain if they were working on paperwork or just keeping quiet. She decided either was perfectly fine with her at the moment.

She leaned back in her seat, finishing the segment when a bright light flashed. She heard a crash next to her and a yelp from Travis which worried her, but she was falling backward herself. She forced herself forward and overcompensated, needing to catch herself with her wings. Wings? She double-checked as her sight came back and saw feathers where her hands should be. She also found herself to be a lot smaller than she had been a minute ago. She shrugged it off, needing to check on the rest of her team first. “Travis?” She asked, trying to align herself correctly before she attempted to just up on her desk. “Donovan? Kathy?”

Travis groaned from the side of her desk. “Present,” he grumbled. She was hoping the reaction was just Travis' polite personality and he wasn't suffering from some sort of blow to the head. Still, her focus was on the two not answering.

“Agent Hartford! Agent Hugh! Report!” She tried again, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. She took the chance and made the leap from her chair to her desk. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she did know that she suddenly had feathers and it had knocked Travis for a loop. There was the possibility that it just made Donovan and Kathy disappear completely. “Donovan? Kathy?”

A small head popped up on her desk and the creature scrambled its way onto the rest of the desk. It took her a minute to recognize the dark furred critter with the pale-ish face to be a ferret. It scratched behind its ears, catching her off guard. “Sorry, Boss. We got a little tangled up down there.”

“Kathy?” She asked. A pure white ferret followed her up. She looked at it and took a guess. “Donovan?”

“Hi Boss,” he said stretching. “Don't ruffle your feathers. We're fine.”

“You're not cute, Agent,” she said firmly. “Are you two ferrets?”

“Guilty,” Kathy said cheerfully. “You're not exactly looking yourself either. Neither is Travis.”

Travis. Penelope's mind immediately shifted and she headed toward the edge of the desk. Before she could, a large black canine sat up. “You're a dog,” she said.

“I'd say a black lab!” Kathy offered.

“Penelope?” Travis asked, both of them ignoring the ferret. “You have feathers!”

“Probably because she's an American Kestrel!” Donovan offered. Kathy just looked at him. “I like studying birds. Okay, I like studying birds with Big Bird. We went over birds of prey last month.”

“Not now, you two!” Penelope snapped. “Kathy, go peer out the window and see if this is a Department issue.”

Kathy did as she was told, barreling down the desk with an easy Penelope wished she could master right now considering the amount of balance she was trying to put into not falling over let along trying to fly. Kathy shook her head. “Just us,” she answered. Penelope nodded.

“For now, we assume we were the only ones affected and we make our way to Sesame Street. We just need to figure out how to get out of this room,” she said. No one suggested asking for help from the rest of the department. Instead, Kathy and Donovan looked at each other.

“I can get the door open if I climb on Donovan's back,” Kathy offered. “But we're going to have to run fast.”

“And can you even fly?” Donovan asked. She appreciated that they weren't trying to tip-toe around the very large problem. Instead, she looked around the room until she found a scarf. She looked hopped over and grabbed it before looking at Travis.

“I, uh, need a lift,” she muttered. She did not appreciate him licking her in response, but at least he was on board. Travis didn't say a word as the other three clumsily tried to get it into place. Penelope test it before hopping onto the chair and then onto his back, holding on to the scarf instead of setting her sharp claws into his back.

“Are you ready?” He asked. She nodded, holding on with her beak too. Travis took charge of the ferrets. “Donovan! Kathy! Go!”

They quickly worked together to get it open and then raced out the door. They were easily outpaced by Travis' longer legs, but they were also smaller and more maneuverable. There was a lot of screaming, surprise and hollering, but they made their way out. Now that they weren't going to have to deal with the Supernatural Department deciding to handle it, they could make way to somewhere who might have a better idea of what was going on. Penelope waited until she could only see the sky and leaped off of Travis, flapping her wings. It wasn't graceful and she certainly would have crashed into several walls if she'd tried it in the building, but she was certainly flying. She made her way back down into the tree, facing her group.

“Can you make it to Sesame Street?” She asked. Travis snorted.

“I know the way,” he said, grabbing Kathy gently in his mouth before she just raced off and setting her back down next to Donovan. Kathy barely seemed to notice. “We'll be fine.”

She nodded. She wasn't going to leave them exactly, but Travis, Donovan, and Kathy looked like escaped pets and Penelope certainly didn't. It would be better if she could fly overhead. “Kathy, Donovan, stay with Travis. Travis, you're in charge. I'm going to fly up so it doesn't look like we're all together.”

The two ferrets grumbled, but stayed directly under Travis' legs. She was pretty sure that Travis was going to be able to physically control them if necessary, something that she had no chance of doing right now. If she remembered correctly, and just from what she'd seen, kestrels were not large birds at all and apparently, whatever caused this didn't think she was capable of being a larger bird of prey such as an owl or an eagle or a vulture. She tried not to let that get to her and found it a little easier when she hit a wind flow and found herself sailing. Fortunately, her companions were making good time as well as she saw Sesame Street. Travis was taking every alleyway he could to shorten the distance and they arrived. Knowing they were right behind her, she flew into the area, almost hitting what she assumed was one of Oscar's elephants. “Sorry,” she said, turning away but the African elephant spoke up.

“Penelope?” She asked. Penelope stopped in her track and immediately began falling. The elephant quickly caught her with her trunk and set her gently into one of the trees.

“Gina?” She asked. The elephant nodded. “Well, that answers my 'were we the only ones hit' question.”

Gina just looked at her for a minute with a look that she'd mastered from Maria years ago. “You sure it's not just you? I can try to find one of the others if you're worried,” she said and Penelope trying to glare at her though she didn't feel it was working as well right now. Of course Gina chose now to be sarcastic. “Where's Travis, Donovan, and Kathy?”

“Down here,” Travis answered, both ferret at his side at this point though Penelope could see that he was standing on their tails to keep them in place. “What's going on?”

“He means,” Penelope said quickly before anything else sarcastic could come from Gina. “Did this affect the entire street?”

“Not quite,” Gina answered. Before she could continue, she saw something coming at her out of the corner of her eye. She immediately fell on guard, flying up to fight if necessary. Gina quickly intercepted. “Penelope! It's Bob!”

She stopped herself and preened a bit before looking at the nightingale in front of her. “Small things flying at my face make me nervous, Bob,” she informed him.

“Oh come on, Penelope!” He argued. “Haven't you been flying as much as you can? I could just...”

“Do not sing again,” a grumpy owl snapped as he landed. Bob shut his beak. The owl looked at her. “He hasn't stopped since it happened.”

Penelope relaxed and moved her head to the side. “Shouldn't you be asleep, Mr. Hooper?” She asked, glancing upward to where the sky was.

“Fortunately, this didn't affect my sleeping pattern,” he answered, spreading his massive wings before bringing them back in. His normal look of slight annoyance matched the Great Horned Owl's expression. She hopped back a bit to give him room, pleased when she didn't fall of the limb.

“So, I'm getting all of the Protectors were hit?” Penelope asked.

“Good guess,” Mr. Hooper answered dryly. He motioned with a wing before taking off, Bob following. Penelope gave Gina a thankful look, letting the elephant finish explaining things to Travis and the rest of her team as she followed. She saw a pigeon watching a small bantam duck swimming in a small pool that had been set up.

“Bert and Ernie?” She asked. Mr. Hooper nodded. Considering that they were by their carts, she guessed that the orangutan was Mr. Macintosh and the mountain goat was Willy. Both of them looked up and she gave a decisive nod before refocusing. For all that her feather-brain surrogate brother seemed to enjoy this, Penelope found the entire thing daunting. Fortunately, she recognized Mr. Hooper was both showing her the damage as well as helping her master flying. “What about Oscar?”

“He's a worm,” Bob said. “He's at his trash can with Slimey. Telly is trying to keep an eye on him.”

“The Count?” She asked.

“A bat. What else would he be?” Mr. Hooper asked and dove toward 123. He perched in the tree while Bob landed on the head of a rather annoyed looking lioness. A large wolf sat up from where he was lying down, Miles sitting next to it. On Miles' other side a capybara was practically nose to nose with a very tiny coquí frog which was on the ledge of the stairs. Gabi was leaning next to it while periodically getting nudged by a big-horned sheep and a mule. An otter glared at Bob from its position next to the lioness, reaching up to try to get him off. Bob just jumped over the paws and back on to the lioness' head. The lioness moved her paws in a certain way and Miles looked at Bob.

“Linda says get off her head,” he said. Bob did so for the moment. He looked up at Penelope and sighed. “Another bird?”

“Miles!” The wolf scolded. Penelope relaxed.

“Hello, Gordon,” she said to him, swooping down to rest on the stair ledge across from side the frog was on. “Miles, can you please tell Linda hello for me? Wings aren't the best for signing.”

“Sure, Penelope,” he answered, doing as she asked. She didn't blame him for the bird comment. Between her, Mr. Hooper, Bert, Ernie, and Bob, that was a good number. He looked over. “What are Travis, Kathy, and Donovan?”

“A black labrador and the other two are ferrets. Donovan is the solid white one and Kathy is the darker furred one,” she answered. “Travis is keeping an eye on them for now. We came straight here after, well, this happened.”

She spread out her wings. The otter laughed. “I don't think anyone is going to be surprised about them,” Olivia's voice rang out from the animal's mouth. “I was expecting you to be a little bigger.”

“You're not the only one,” Penelope grumbled.

“At least you're not Maria,” Olivia said quietly, motioning over toward the other group. Penelope winced, flying up a bit but unsure if she should head that way. The capybara glanced in her direction before turning back to the frog and Gabi waved her over.

Penelope landed, trying not to cause too much wind or trouble. Both the frog and the capybara looked at her to which Penelope raised her wing in a semblence of a wave. “Hi Susan. Hi Maria.”

Both guesses were correct as Susan walked over to her, looking her over. Penelope sighed, but let her do it. Maria looked over. “Nice wings.”

“You can probably jump pretty far?” Penelope tried, wanting to hide her head in her wing. She really was terrible at being comforting. “I take it Lamb Chop and Lampwick over there are Luis and David?”

“How'd you guess?” Maria asked with a slight laugh. “Susan's worried I'm going to get trampled.”

“Considering how not careful they're being,” Penelope said, raising her voice slightly. “I agree. How are you doing, Gabi?”

“Really glad I'm not a Protector right now,” she answered. Before Penelope could protest, the girl continued. “What if I turned into a weird frog sheep thing?”

Penelope closed her beak and carefully moved around Maria to nudge Gabi. “I'm glad you're human right now too,” she assured her.

“I'm glad I'm adopted,” Miles said. Susan turned on him. “So I don't have to worry about that! Calm down, Mom.”

“You're a cute frog,” Penelope offered to Maria.

“Thank you,” she answered. “Gabi has been great with moving me around. And Linda offered to give me a lift as long as I'm not on her head.”

Penelope leaned out a wing and very gently patted her friend. Before she could say anything else, she found herself looking over to see Big Bird and Gina headed over. Travis very calmly was walking next to Big Bird while both Donovan and Kathy raced around on Gina's back. To her credit, Gina barely seemed to notice. Penelope sighed. “Gina!” She called out, hopping away from Maria so she didn't accidentally knock her over if she needed to take off. “Please tell me they asked.”

“They asked,” Gina assured her. Penelope calmed down a bit at that, flying up into the tree where Mr. Hooper was still watching in order to make room. Gordon bounded down the steps to where Travis was standing near Big Bird and did the same sort of check that Susan had done to Penelope. Unlike Penelope, she could hear Travis' slight canine whine that she knew was for reassurance. Something that Gordon had no problem giving him.

“There is an upside here,” she mentioned quietly to Mr. Hooper who turned his head to look at her in surprise. “At least we're not being controlled by the animal side. Gordon and Travis aren't challenging each other, Linda is only annoyed at Bob being on her head but she isn't snapping at him, and you're not trying to chase me out of the tree. And as long as we all stay here, we'll be safe from other animals too.”

Mr. Hooper paused. “I suppose that is an upside,” he agreed.

“Penelope!” She heard Big Bird called out and looked down. “You're a bird too?”

His excitement caused her to hop to a lower branch, testing to see if it would match her weight. “I suppose I am,” she answered, noticing that her tone immediately became more gentle. “Any advice?”

“You have to preen,” he told her, wagging his finger. Penelope nodded seriously. “And you're going to need a nest to sleep in.”

Oh. She hadn't thought about that, but he was right. She looked up at the tree nervously and saw the resigned look that had hit Mr. Hooper's face. She was a little confused by it. “I'm afraid I don't know how to build a nest,” she admitted, not wanting to admit that sleeping in a tree sounded positively terrifying.

Big Bird's eyes lit up. “Then you can stay in my nest with me and Radar and Mr. Looper and Bob and Ernie and Bert!” He exclaimed. Ah. That was why Mr. Hooper had a look of resignation. She wasn't thrilled about it at all and a large part of her wanted to protest, but this was Big Bird whose feelings she was always loathe to hurt and, quite frankly, it would be nice to beat Mr. Hooper to the punch for once.

“I'd love to,” she said primly. Mr. Hooper just stared at her. She heard Gordon laughing, but she focused her attention completely on the young bird in front of her. “After all, I will need a nest and if you're offering, that seems far better than trying to figure out how to build my own. What about Travis, Donovan, and Kathy, though?”

“Elmo is going to watch Kathy and Donovan!” The little red monster exclaimed as he came over. “Elmo had to ask Elmo's mommy, but Kathy and Donovan can stay at Elmo's!”

Penelope looked at him kindly. “I appreciate that Elmo, but Kathy and Donovan are a huge responsibility. They have to be watched at all times or they'll cause trouble. And they get into everything. Are you sure you want to try this?”

“We're standing right here,” Donovan informed her.

“I know,” Penelope answered. Elmo nodded.

“Elmo will do a very good job, Penelope,” he answered eagerly.

“I know you will,” she answered. “And Donovan and Kathy are going to try very, very hard to listen to you. Right, agents?”

If she clacked her beak a bit at them, it was purely coincidental. Besides, between Elmo's impulsive nature and the fact that her agents were, well, them, she felt for Elmo's mother. She made a note to make a gift basket for the monster later. She also made a note to ask Susan, Gordon, or Bob how to make a gift basket. Both of the ferrets just nodded in the more seriously fashion possible.

“Snuffy says that Gina can stay with him!” Big Bird said. “And Cookie Monster offered to keep an eye on Mr. Macintosh and Willy!”

“Who is keeping an eye on who there?” Penelope muttered.

“They want to keep him out of their carts,” Mr. Hooper muttered back. The two birds shared a look of understanding.

“What about Travis?” Penelope asked. Travis looked up from where he was standing, looking ready to protest that no one needing to put themselves out when Miles spoke up.

“Linda says that she'll check with Alan, but she and Barkley are staying with him. After Barkley, Travis wouldn't be any trouble,” Miles snorted. “And Gabi's keeping an eye on Maria, David, and Luis so I've got Mom, Dad, and Aunt Olivia.”

Penelope did a quick check. With Telly watching Oscar, that only left the Count and most likely he'd be happier with his bats in his castle. Unlike the rest of them with their apartments, he could get in and out of the castle easily because he had built it with his own bats in mind. “Okay,” she said. “Thank you for sharing, Big Bird.”

He just beamed at her before getting distracted. Penelope made her way back up toward Mr. Hooper. “You agreed very quickly,” he mentioned.

“Well, it didn't seem worth it to argue,” she answered. He gave her a look.

“The rest of us had to strong-arm you into staying with us when there wasn't another choice,” he continued.

“Well, times do change.”

“You did it because you knew I put up a fuss.”

“Yes.”

“Owls chase falcons out of trees?” He asked and she turned to look at him.

“You could,” she admitted. “But you won't. Not in front of all these people.”

Mr. Hooper harrumphed but she saw the look of respect in his eyes. She was going to have to watch her back for the rest of the week. Still worth it.

***

After about two more hours, more rules needed to be put into play. Maria was not to be left alone unless they were up in their apartment and Gabi knew where she was. Maria, for her part, tried to stay as high up toward people's eye level as possible. However, even that wasn't enough to stop the near accident from happening. Just as Penelope and Bob had had to learn to fly and maneuver, the others had to deal with size and strength differentiation. Luis and David had already been roughhousing a bit, pushing into each other to get an idea of their strength and balance. Maria had sat on the table at the fix-it shop, rolling her eyes and making comments to both of them every so often. She was in an easy to spot area, the entire group knew where she was, and Gordon glanced up every so often from laying outside of Hooper's to read the paper. It was a complete accident that it happened.

Luis accidentally hit David a little too hard which would have been fine if there hadn't been the balance issue and, four legs or not, David had to struggle to regain his balance before he fell over. Unfortunately, the thing that helped him steady himself was the table that Maria was on.

“Look out!” Luis called, but David couldn't stop. Maria let out a startled cry as she was flung through the air. Gordon had managed to get on his feet and was able to move quicker than the other two, leaving David to finish stabilizing and catching Maria on his back.

“Are you alright?” He asked her.

“I'm fine,” Maria answered. “Just a little winded.”

He helped her back onto the table and spun around toward the other two. “What were you thinking?” He demanded and they took a step back from him, honestly looking startled. Gordon paused for a minute as everyone else had made their way over.

“Gordon,” Maria said quietly. “You're growling.”

Gordon nearly fell over trying to back up and there was just chaos as everyone began to try to figure out what to do from there.

“Enough!” Mr. Hooper's voice rang out from above them. Everyone stopped moving and looked up or over as the case may be. “Gordon, go for a quick run to cool down. Maria, are you alright?”

“I'm fine. Just a little dizzy,” she offered for the group this time. “It was an accident.”

“I think,” Mr. Hooper said. “That we all need to get used to working with these bodies. Between David and Luis' nearly hurting Maria, Gordon's unfortunate snarl, and Penelope nearly tearing apart Bob...”

“When did you do that?” Bob asked her. Penelope looked sheepish.

“When you flew right at me,” she answered. “I reacted. Gina stopped me. How did you not notice?”

“The point,” Mr. Hooper continued, giving them a look to settle down which both of the younger birds quickly obeyed, Bob even moving back down onto Linda's head. “Is that we're not used to these bodies and we need practice.”

No one, not even David, disagreed. Susan took a step forward to take over, which Mr. Hooper had no problem with her doing. “I'm not happy with any of you playing like that,” she said, looking over at Luis and David who didn't meet her eye. “But you if must, make sure you do it in an open area when the kids aren't playing outside. Gina, how are you doing?”

“Linda and I are working together,” she answered. “I can't used sign language, but I can use my trunk for warning her. She lets me know if there's a problem I can't see.”

Linda nodded, moving her paws. _“Early warning system.”_ She signed. Penelope had to hand it to them both. It was smart for two of the more hindered members to create a system that would work for them. _“I can take Maria if she doesn't mind riding on my back.”_

“Thanks, Linda,” Maria said, easily taking her friend up on it. Gabi put her on the lioness back and Maria relaxed.

_“Now that that's settled, Gabi? Tell Bob to get off my head!”_ Linda snapped in sign. Gabi sighed.

_”Father”_ ,” she scolded. “Get off of _Mother's_ head.”

Bob did as he was told, landing back up next to Penelope. She moved over to let him, pausing from chiding him about getting on Linda's head again because she was not about to sound like Susan. The capybara in question continued. “Travis, are you hav... Put Kathy down.”

Travis did as he was told, but he gave her a look that informed her she'd regret that order in a minute. “Yes?”

“Are you having any problems?” She asked after.

“Other than the tail and fur and stuff, I don't feel that different,” he offered earnestly. Penelope groaned. Her friend really was just a giant puppy most of the time and this just about proved it. “I like that I have control over Kathy and Donovan.”

“So do I!” Penelope agreed, ignoring the look that Susan gave her. Bob was completely egging her on with his laughter anyway. Susan just sighed, trying to get back control of the temporary zoo.

“Donovan and Kathy? I want you where someone can see you at all times,” Susan said. “You too, Olivia. All three of you are just the right size to get stepped on or hurt from something falling off a shelf. We need to make sure that we can find you if you get hurt.”

“Oh!” Kathy said raising her paw. “Does Oscar's can count as 'having someone see as at all times'?”

“Oscar doesn't want you down there,” Susan said.

“But what if he was okay with it?” She asked. Penelope knew her agent well enough to know that this line of questioning was going to end with them on the roof of Hooper's because someone was technically watching them while one or the other of the ferrets tried to see if they rode on several birds if that would work. She'd been around Bob, Linda, Kathy, and Donovan long enough to stop something before it got out of control.

“No, Kathy,” the lead agent said firmly. “And stay on the ground. When Susan said 'see you', she also meant 'can reach you'.”

The ferret sulked, but didn't argue. Penelope really needed better agents. Obedient agents. Agents she probably could have had but their work had been subpar at best and she hadn't enjoyed their company. At least then she wouldn't have to worry about them dying because they were ridiculous enough to jump off a roof though. She ignored the fact that she wouldn't be worried if she didn't care about the two silly ferretted agents. She motioned for Susan to continue.

“No growling at each other,” she instructed. “No swiping at each other. You have claws right now and we don't want anyone hurt.”

There was quite a bit of agreement from that one. For all that she'd opened with letting them rough house when the kids weren't around, Penelope wasn't expecting Luis or David to even nudge each other after what happened. Susan looked directly at Bob. “And we need to make sure not to startle Penelope.”

“You're making me sound like a loose canon,” Penelope sulked. She had good control over it. Susan gave her a soothing look.

“Your job makes it to where you have to look for trouble,” she said. “And you need to react to that trouble quickly. A certain someone flying at your head is not going to ease that.”

Susan gave Bob a stern look before looking far more gently at Bert and Ernie. “But we all need to be careful. Call out Penelope's name before you get close to her.”

Penelope didn't argue again. They had a point. She felt a shadow over her and knew that Mr. Hooper had moved to give her the morale support she probably needed right now. The older bird motioned for Susan to continue. “There's going to be new problems that arise, but we'll take one problem at a time.”

Mr. Hooper waited until she was finished before looking at all of them. “We wait until Alan is done with the rush tonight before we get our own food.”

“I'm eating at Snuffy's,” Gina said. He nodded to her.

“The rest of us are not going to make his life harder,” he instructed. “Gabi, Miles, you two should get your dinner before the rest of us too.”

“Yes, Mr. Hooper,” both teens answered. He nodded and took off as the others began to disperse. Penelope looked at Bob.

“Flying practice?” She suggested.

“Absolutely!” He said, taking off. She regretted the decision later when she learned that a bird absolutely could chirp the entire song of 'People in your neighborhood'. The fact that she didn't nudge him into a tree really should have garnered her a medal.

***

Dinnertime was a new bit of chaos that Alan was trying to work around. While he normally had Mr. Hooper to help him, the poor man was left on his own to try to figure out what each of them should be eating. Linda, Penelope, Gordon, and Mr. Hooper balked at the idea of raw meat which caused a revelation that they might not need the typical food of their species within reason. “Why don't we cook the meat and make salads?” Susan suggested. “And fish would be better for Olivia.”

“Cooked fish,” Olivia corrected.

“What about me?” Maria asked. “What am I supposed to eat?”

No one answered with the obvious, especially the carnivores who had already been disgusted by the thought of uncooked meat. Gordon gave the best approximation of a shrug.

“We'll call Kermit,” he answered. “He doesn't eat insects.”

Bob flew off Linda's head, which she had been trying to get him to do for five minutes by that point, and hid on her back. Maria looked at him. “Why are you hiding?” She demanded as he tried to quiet her. Penelope could have told him it wasn't any use when half of them had gained better sight and hearing over the past several hours.

“I may have told Kermit that he didn't know what normal frogs liked,” he answered. Maria looked at him.

“You did what?!” She demanded. “Bob, if I have to eat bugs because Kermit won't help...”

“Easy, Maria,” Gordon said. “Let's give him a call and find out if he'll help before we worry about that. Come on, Bob. I think you're going to need to apologize.”

Penelope watched as he flew over to Gordon and rode on the wolf's back to where the phone was. Alan punched in the number for him and they waited. Gordon relaxed. “Hi Kermit. It's Gordon. Well, we're having a long day. All of the Protectors are turned into different animals. Thanks. Well, we're calling because Maria is a frog right now and we're trying to figure out what she can eat. Yes, we know Bob mentioned that. He has something he wants to tell you.”

Bob took the phone. “Hi Kermit. Uh huh. That was wrong of me. Of course you know more about frogs. I'm very, very sorry. Really? Okay, I'll let her know. Thanks, Kermit. Bye.”

Gordon looked at him. “What did he say?”

“He said we just need to make sure that there's small enough bites that she can swallow them, so about the size of well...”

“A fly,” Maria said miserably. “It's better than eating an actual fly.”

At Alan's translation for her, Linda nudged Maria lovingly with her nose. Maria leaned back into it as Luis and David each put their chins on Linda's back without adding pressure but to increase the support. Olivia gave Linda a curious look at the lioness nodded. The otter gently climbed up on Linda's back to do the same while Bob landed on the back. Penelope gave them as much privacy as possible. “Alan?” She asked. “Dinner?”

He pulled himself back together from watching and nodded to her. “Won't be long,” he promised. The meal came out soon after. Mr. Macintosh and Willy headed outside with theirs, Mr. Macintosh carrying Willy's salad as the latter laughed over something. Penelope found it amusing that they managed date night even now. Mr. Hooper grabbed his and outside to eat, latching his claws into the dirt. He looked at her.

“Come on,” he said. She shook her head.

“I'll eat with everyone else,” she answered. He let her make her own, probably terrible decision. She figured out why he hadn't bothered to eat at the table when she tried to tear off a piece of her chicken. Her beak wasn't meant for the rougher meat and without something to hold onto, she felt back onto the chair. Bob landed right next to her. “Are you okay?”

Susan was at her side right after. “What happened?”

“The chicken was a little harder to tear apart than I thought,” she answered. “If I had better balance as a bird, I would have been fine. Did I at least get the piece?”

“Yep,” Bob answered, picking it up and letting her eat it. Susan nuzzled her and Penelope sighed.

“I am really getting sick of falling in chairs,” she muttered. “I better go eat with Mr. Hooper.”

As he had for Mr. Hooper, Alan carried the plate out for her and she tried again. Neither of them spoke about the fact that when she started to fall back again, she felt something gently push her back forward. If that something felt like a wing, they were both happy to pretend like it hadn't happened. When she pulled back, she looked to see fur next to her eating. Donovan looked at her and went back to eating his food. She was guessing that Travis had wanted to, but Donovan's was easier to get outside. She did appreciate the attempt at solidarity, especially when his tail kept her from falling at one point but he didn't look up. She sighed, and went back to what she was doing. When she'd finished, Donovan paused. “Finished?”

“Yes,” she answered. He reached over and grabbed the rest of her dinner.

“Donovan...” she grumbled as he downed it, but the ferret just gave the equivalent of a grin.

“Thanks, Mom,” he teased, running off.

“I don't care what Travis says! I am not your mother!” She yelled.

“Yes, you are,” Mr. Hooper informed her. She glared at him.

“You aren't helping.”

“I tried to help earlier before you fell in the store,” he answered.

“I'm going to encourage them to call you Grandpa.”

“No you won't,” he answered, heading back inside. She didn't argue but she internally argued that she absolutely could convince them to if she tried. As it turned out, they weren't the only two have issues. The table had been too high for Susan. Sheep were too used to leaning down and Luis had knocked his first salad off the table. The others had had more luck with the whole thing. Still, they'd all be better prepared in the morning. Alan assured them that he's set them up in the arboretum so that it would be easier on everyone and they could chat with Gina while they ate. Instead, it was time to split up that night to get some sleep. Though, they were all pretty sure it wouldn't go that easily.

***

“Papá!” Gabi exclaimed. “Get out of your chair! You're going to break it! Dad! Stop moving over there! You've knocked that lamp over three times! Mamá, I know the toaster isn't working but we'll worry about it when you're human again.”

“I think I can fix it if we can make a screwdriver small enough,” Maria said, ignoring her daughter at the moment as she was drawn in to the need to fix it. Gabi groaned.

“Come on, Mamá. It's time for bed,” she pleaded. She heard the lamp fall over again.

“Dad!”

“It was your papa this time!” David said quickly, throwing his husband under the bus. Gabi walked over and picked up the lamp, deciding against putting it back. Again.

“I think we all just need to go to bed now,” she said firmly. All three looked at her. “You heard me! Bedtime!”

She held out her hand as her mother jumped into it. Her fathers reluctantly, but quietly followed. Gabi took a small pillow and sat it on the drawers along with a bowl of water. “There, Mamá,” she said. “That way, if you get too dry, you'll have some water.”

“Thank you, honey,” Maria said. Gabi put down a blanket and looked at Luis.

“That should work, Poppi,” she said. He nudged her with his head.

“Thank you, mija,” he told her. She finally turned toward David.

“I think mules sleep standing up,” she said apologetically. She threw the blanket over him, making sure it would keep him warm. “Is that okay, Daddy?”

“It's wonderful,” he promised her. “Good night, Sweetheart.”

“Good night,” she said. “Go to sleep!”

None of them protested as they were all pretty worn out. Gabi made her way to her room and fell asleep.

***

Miles had little trouble with his parents. Both of them were perfectly willing to go straight to bed and were curled up next to each other on the blankets he'd set up in their room. His dad wouldn't have had trouble getting onto the bed, but he refused to without Susan. Susan had protested that she was fine on her own. Miles had let them argue while he set up a place both of them would enjoy on the floor and that ended the short-lived, if kinda sweet argument.

No, Miles was having trouble with his aunt instead. “Get out of the bath, Aunt Olivia.”

“I'm just going to stay here.”

“No you're not!” Miles said, sounding scandalized. “There's one bathroom and I might have to use it! I made you a place on the couch.”

“Miles...”

“I am not going to Gabi's in the middle of the night and explain to her I need to use her bathroom because her mom wouldn't get out of my bathtub!” Miles exclaimed. “Out!”

“You sound like Gordon right now.”

“Good. That's who I was aiming for,” he said. “And if you don't move now, I'm going to sound like mom.”

She got out of the bath.

***

Alan was having a much easier time with his group. Neither Linda nor Travis were keen on causing trouble for him. Linda had curled up next to Barkley's chin while Travis laid on the other side without any protest. Both of them had gotten Barkley to just come in and go to sleep. Alan petted the large dog and turned off the light, going to read for a little bit.

Within their own apartment, Cookie Monster slept on the couch while Mr. Macintosh and Willy rested on their bed. And away in Snuffy's cave, Mrs. Snuffleupagus fussed over Gina who had found herself sandwiched between Snuffy and Alice when it was time for bed until the elephant assured her that she was warm enough and comfortable enough and thank you for everything. Then there was only sleep.

***

“Oscar?” Telly asked. “Maybe we could all go to bed? It's getting really late!”

“Relax, Telly,” Oscar said, not about to make this easy for the monster. “We just have a bedtime routine.”

“And it involves Fluffy jumping on the bed? What if she falls? What if she knocks over the china set and all the china goes flying and some of it hits you and Slimey and we need to go to the hospital but we can't! Because all of the grown-ups are animals!” He panicked.

“Shouldn't you be more worried that our veterinarian is an elephant since we're animals? Heh heh heh,” Oscar asked.

“Oh no!” Telly said. “Fluffy! Fluffy, get down.”

Oscar continued to laugh as Slimey poked him and shook his head. Oscar looked over, not really wanting to upset Slimey. “Five minutes and then you can remind him that Alan is still around,” Oscar said softly. Slimey considered it and nodded. Oscar enjoyed the five minutes.

*** 

“Hey Elmo! Does this globe turn?” Kathy asked from on top of his bookcase. She figured that Elmo's mother could reach her and thus she was definitely listening to the letter of her boss' law if not the spirit. Elmo didn't seem to mind at all.

“Yep!” Elmo answered, letting Kathy climb on top of it. Donovan was had hidden under Elmo's covers and was racing to try to find where next to the bed Elmo was. The young monster had quickly taken to the game and was moving around the bed to try to dodge the other ferret. Both Donovan and Kathy had very politely asked Elmo's mother to move Dorothy out of the room for a bit until bedtime, knowing full well how it was going to be until the older monster asked them to go to sleep. She had obliged, informed them that she'd let them know when it was time for bed, and hadn't left anything that was breakable in the room.

Kathy ran on the globe which caught Elmo's eye and he started laughing. Donovan pulled himself out to see what she was doing and groaned. “Kathy! You might break it!”

The other agent quickly jumped off, rushing down the bookshelf and climbing up on Elmo's shoulder to nuzzle him in apology. “Sorry, Elmo,” she said. “I just always wanted to run across the world.”

“That was bad,” Donovan told her from the bed, scurrying out of the bed and rubbing against the young monster's legs. Kathy climbed down. Donovan looked at Elmo.

“What do you want to do now?” He asked. Elmo thought to himself.

“Elmo wants to sing ABCs. Can Donovan and Kathy look like different letters?” He asked.

“You bet we can!” Kathy answered. Elmo looked pleased.

“Having ferrets is different than having Dorothy,” he said, waiting for them to get situated. “Dorothy doesn't hide Elmo's things under the bed when Elmo isn't looking.”

“It was a fun game?” Kathy asked. “And you found all of them! So you won!”

“When Kathy and Donovan are grown-ups again, will Kathy and Donovan stay over with Elmo again?” He asked. Donovan looked up from where he was.

“As long as it's okay with your mom, you bet!” He answered. “And you can stay with us too.”

“Yay!” Elmo cheered. “Okay, A...”

Both of the ferrets quickly moved to make an A and the game was on.

***

Big Bird was taking his role as the largest bird quite seriously in Penelope's opinion. He had made certain that the nest was set to accommodate five extra birds as well as himself. He even left some room in case the Count decided he would get lonely. Bert and Ernie had crawled right into the nest, snuggling up together as they did so. Bob was next in, not causing too much trouble next to them. Penelope looked at Mr. Hooper before flying down on Big Bird's other side considering she was the third largest bird to be in the nest. That would leave the largest middle portion for Mr. Hooper.

The elder bird in question was positively making Penelope look good at this point. “I'm an owl,” he argued. “Owls stay up at night.”

“You were up all day too,” Penelope answered, possibly a tad too cheerfully.

“And you'll be up tomorrow too,” Bob continued, proving she wasn't the only one enjoying this. Mr. Hooper glared at them both balefully.

“Thank you for reminding me, you two,” he grumbled.

“I left you plenty of room in the front, Mr. Looper!” Big Bird said.

“Hooper,” all three of the adults answered.

“It's a comfy nest,” Big Bird tried again.

“Very warm,” cooed Penelope.

“And dry,” chirped Bob. Mr. Hooper flew down, 'accidentally' knocking Penelope and Bob back into Big Bird from landing too fast.

“Thank you, Big Bird,” Mr. Hooper said. Penelope and Bob both pretended like they hadn't been pushed back. There was a small possibility they'd both deserved it and it hadn't hurt at all. They did both share an amused look around his back though. “Time to sleep.”

“But... I always read a book before I go to bed,” Big Bird said softly. Bob and Penelope both looked at him.

“I'm not sure I can turn the pages, Big Bird,” Penelope said rather gently. Bob nodded.

“I'm sorry, Big Bird, but I just don't think we can read to you tonight,” he agreed.

Big Bird sat up straight. “But Bob, Penelope, I'm the biggest bird today. I'll read to you!”

Mr. Hooper didn't say a word, but Penelope could practically hear his inward grumbling. Bert and Ernie were terribly interested over the entire thing. Bob looked at Big Bird. “Are you sure?”

“He has a good point,” Penelope agreed. “He is the biggest bird right now. And he wants to help us littler birds, right, Big Bird?”

“Well, I'd love a story then,” Bob quickly agreed, catching on to Penelope's line of thinking.

“Big Bird?” Ernie asked. “Would it be okay if Rubber Ducky listens too?”

“Of course, Ernie! He's a bird, isn't he?” Big Bird asked. Bert looked up and then shyly at Big Bird.

“Bernice is a bird too,” he motioned. Big Bird looked over.

“Bernice!” He called. “Why don't you come sleep over tonight!”

The pigeon did so, landing on Bert's other side. Penelope wasn't certain how Ernie had managed to get Rubber Ducky there, but she didn't really question his tenacity either. She also very much knew she'd regret asking. Mr. Hooper harrumphed. “If everyone is here,” he said. “Let's start the story so we can go to sleep.”

Big Bird started the book and Penelope paid less attention to the story being told and more to the birds in the nest. Ernie had been the first to climb into Big Bird's lap and look at the pictures but Bert and Bernice followed soon after. Bob perched himself on Big Bird's shoulder, making himself comfortable. Mr. Hooper had already fallen sleep. Penelope moved to be able to look at the book, but she was exceedingly worried about her talons. Big Bird solved the problem by making her a place with his blankets to rest on and she found her getting tired as the story went on. When the story was over, Big Bird yawned and set Ernie, Bert, and Bernie back where they were. Bob flew back back into the nest and made himself comfortable while Penelope did the same.

Within twenty minutes, she'd heard Bob move around three times. Penelope sighed. “Bob,” she whispered. He looked over. “Come here.”

He hopped over and she wrapped a wing around him before trying to go back to sleep. “Are you sure?” Sure, apparently it was fine for him to annoy Linda by riding on her all day, but he remembered that Penelope wasn't much for touching. Maybe it was because Linda did tend to be more tactile when she was human that was causing him to have trouble remembering. 

“I live with Travis, remember?” She whispered. “It wouldn't be the first time.”

She didn't admit that sleeping outside as a bird in a nest was making her equally antsy. Bob nodded and the two rested against each other before falling asleep.

***

Morning the next day led to various developments. The first of these developments was that Maria, Gina, and Linda were staying very close together. Tarah had joined them alongside Gabi as the two spent the day together as well as helped out as necessary. Maria had gotten the hang of staying on Linda's back and the lioness was careful not to knock her friend around. Gina only moved after Linda, still worried about the harm she'd do if she wasn't careful.

Travis was happily sleeping next to Barkley for the most part and Barkley seemed pleased to have another dog to play with. Partway through the morning, Gordon had convinced the younger man to join him for a run since they were about the same in speed thanks to the change. Susan called after them to be careful before turning back to talk with Mr. Hooper. Miles was with David and Luis, the three trying to figure out if a mule and sheep could play basketball if they dropped the no dribbling part of it to Maria and Linda's playful teasing whenever it didn't work. Olivia got into the middle of it, climbing up the hoop and knocking away some of their shots until Susan called for her to get down.

Both of her agents had decided that Elmo's one night offer was apparently a lifetime guarantee to following him around for most of the day and were patiently playing with him, Zoe, Rosita, Herry, and Big Bird. She was a little impressed at how focused on the activity in question they were. For all that they were chaotic and unruly, it was moments like these that reminded her why she'd fought so hard to keep them. That and the fact that she was rather attached to them as this point. With everything going smoothly, she would have thought that would have been the end of it.

Yet, no. As a bird, she was able to stay up in her tree and watch. For the most part, the others left her alone and many of them couldn't climb up to get her if they wanted. However, after getting kicked off of Linda's head for the fifth time, honestly he needed to take a hint, Bob had taken to singing in her tree. Consistently. And it wasn't the same song, but he had taken to making up some of the songs. The others ignored him because they were far away and they could. Penelope, on the other hand, wanted to stay in the tree and she wanted to enjoy the peace and she really wanted to push Bob off the limb. “Bob...” She started. “Stop.”

“Sorry,” he answered. She relaxed until he started another one.

“You're chirping,” she informed him.

“Am I?” He asked. Yep, she really wanted to push him off the limb. But that would be wrong and bad and she really wouldn't be able to claim it as accidental. She would just be reminded that she was bigger than Bob and that she could hurt him and something, something, Susan would be glaring at her, something.

“You are,” she answered. She was trying to figure out what she'd done recently that Bob had decided he needed revenge over. She couldn't come up with anything which made her think that maybe he didn't realize he'd been doing it and... was he humming People in Your Neighborhood again? “You're humming.”

“I thought you didn't want chirping,” he said.

“Bob, I think I read somewhere that falcons will smack noisy songbirds when they won't be quiet,” she answered.

“Penelope!” Susan said. Oh sure, she heard that, but not Bob bothering her all morning. “Go to Big Bird's nest and think about what you did.”

Penelope didn't bother to argue with Susan. Mr. Hooper was standing there and he'd just agree with her anyway. Gordon would have agreed with her though. Especially since she didn't hurt Bob. She landed in the nest and tried to find a way to pout. It was still worth it though. “So,” Mr. Hooper's voice rang over her. “What did you learn?”

“That it's worth getting in trouble with Susan for making an observation,” she answered. She hopped up to see Susan's look. “Hi Susan.”

“Penelope...” Susan warned.

“I wasn't going to touch him,” she said, pleased to see her fellow troublemaker had made his way over too. “Was I, Bob?”

The bird in question shook his head. “It was just Penelope Threats.”

“And what does that mean?” Penelope asked, puffing up a bit. She was extremely threatening, thank you.

“The only kind of threat I know of where you would act on it for anyone outside of Sesame Street and for anyone inside, it's just all words,” he answered. 

“You aren't supposed to realize that,” she informed him.

“You've been doing it for decades, Penelope,” he reminded her. Mr. Hooper sat back and let Susan try to handle them.

“Bob,” she started with. “It's bad enough that you get in trouble because Linda encourages it, but with Penelope? Really? And you! You have agents that you're supposed to be in charge of! What sort of example are you setting?”

“How to make a proper threat?” She asked. Mr. Hooper and Susan weren't amused. At least Bob was.

“Penelope Carson!” Susan exclaimed. “We do not threaten our friends on Sesame Street.”

“Come on, Susan,” Bob wheedled. “She wasn't going to do it. You're just worried because of what happened yesterday.”

Susan looked at him. “Yes.”

“It's Penelope. We all know how good she is at self-control,” he said. “I wasn't startling her, so she was fine.”

Mr. Hooper looked at them both. “No more joking about it,” he answered, looking directly at Penelope. He turned to Bob. “Don't antagonize her. And before you both consider trying again, you two can get away from Susan right now, but I can fly too.”

“Yes, Mr. Hooper,” both younger birds said cheerfully. Mr. Hooper gave Susan a look of 'They're your problem now' before flying off. Penelope looked at Susan.

“Time out over?” She asked, perching on the edge of the nest. Bob joined her on the edge. Penelope was quite impressed with Susan's ability to facepalm as a capybara.

“Both of you. Act your age. Set a better example,” she said firmly. Bob flew down and landed on Susan's head while Penelope made her way down and rested her head against Susan's. Susan's posture relaxed slightly. “What am I going to do with the two of you?”

Penelope pulled back. “I don't cause you that much trouble and Bob is just easily persuaded by love.”

Susan sighed, but nuzzled Penelope back and didn't complain about Bob being on her head. He left soon after anyway, most likely to find Linda, and Susan looked at Penelope with quiet exasperation. Penelope cocked her head to the side, ready to change the subject. “How's Gordon?”

“A lot better,” Susan answered.

“Good,” she answered. “Hopefully, Travis can finish convincing him that it was an accident.”

Susan looked at her. “You think that's what he's doing?”

“No,” Penelope answered. “I know that's what he's doing. He'll want to pay back Gordon for helping him feel better over the years and he's very good with Donovan and Kathy. He'll take care of it.”

“Moving back has been good for you,” Susan informed her. Penelope gave her a stern look.

“Don't start with the 'we told you for decades to move here' stuff again. I hear enough of that from David,” she grumbled. At Susan's resigned look that she was going to have to talk to the mule, she interjected. “Linda stopped him.”

“That's something,” Susan said. “We got you here. We don't need you leaving again.”

Penelope stretched her wings. “I think I'm home, Susan. I'd rather be home without feathers, but at least Travis and I aren't trying to handle Donovan and Kathy on our own off of the Street right now instead of with the help of the rest of Sesame Street. And once we all start to settle down a bit, we can figure out how to change back.”

Susan nodded. “Now, why is it when I leave you and Bob alone, you two get like this?”

“Gordon always went along with Bob's plans, but they were Bob's plans, Susan. You might as well ask the trickster god Loki if he can give up being a chaos god and take up gardening as to ask Bob to be an adult,” she answered.

“That doesn't answer why you feel the need to join in,” she answered. Penelope shrugged.

“You decided to be the responsible one, remember?” She asked. “We all decided on our roles a long time ago. You chose to be the responsible maternal one, Gordon chose to be the calm paternal one, Bob decided on the playful mentor, and I decided on the stern agent. But, like any family, sometimes you slide back into old roles. And Bob was the instigator, Gordon wanted to see where things ended up, you protested and then joined in...”

“And once we pulled you out of your shell, you helped Bob figure out the better way to do things. Something he decided to mention to Linda,” Susan finished. Penelope nodded, knowing full well how Linda tended to drag her into things.

“And because Bob was often wrong, I would let him know. In the most unpolite way Sesame Street allowed and he would snipe back,” she answered. “And eventually, teasing each other is how we communicate best.”

“He also was the one who got you to wear the armor,” Susan reminded her. Penelope absent moved a wing to her chest.

“Thank the Street for that,” she said softly. Susan touch her with her nose and she let her, knowing Susan needed it more than she did. “And Bob and I don't get that bad that often. Only when the others aren't around.”

“Penelope...”

“Wouldn't want to set a bad example, you know,” she said. “I'm not going to hurt Bob. Or anyone else here. You heard Bob. It was a Penelope Threat.”

“You hated that term when he just used it,” Susan said dryly.

“I did and I do. But he is right,” she said. “I just didn't want all of them to know that they're right.”

“You're being impossible,” she informed her. Penelope just lifted her head proudly.

“I call it being a good little sister,” she said before deciding that was quite enough affectionate talk for the moment. “We've been gone for five minutes. We should probably make sure they haven't burned down the rest of the Street.”

“Penelope! Don't even joke!” Susan scolded.

“Who's joking?” She asked. Susan took off in the other direction while Penelope lazily flew overhead in enough time to hear Tarah and laugh.

“Bob? Linda said to get off her head and she signed it very forcefully...”

***

“Your talons won't hurt Luis,” David wheedled. “And you're too fast if we let you fly on your own.”

“This plan is ridiculous anyway,” Penelope told him. “Just because the kids left the arboretum doesn't make racing a good plan at all. And what about Gina? She can't participate.”

“Gina is perfectly happy staying out of it,” the elephant informed her. Penelope glared at the lack of help. Gina was sensible, but it would have been nice if she could help the others be sensible with her. Or help Penelope talk the others into being sensible. That would be very helpful right now.

“And it wouldn't be accurate,” Penelope continued, since Gina was no help whatsoever. “Since Gordon and Susan wouldn't be involved.”

“They're never involved.”

“Then why do I have to be involved?”

“Because I'm asking,” David answered. Penelope rolled her eyes.

“You gave me Luis to team up with,” she said. “Somehow, I don't think a big-headed...”

“Big-horned,” Luis tried to correct.

“She knows what she said,” Maria said from the side. Penelope looked at her in solidarity for the moment.

“Is going to beat out a mule or a lion. Gabi, tell Linda that she has to have done the research on this so the plan is ridiculous,” Penelope continued.

“ _Mother_ says that she was talking with Travis and while they agree on the speeds, they're wondering if there's a difference because you were human at one point,” she answered. Penelope looked thoughtful.

“Okay, let's look at this sensibly and get out from under Barkley, Travis. You're involved now whether you like it or not. You put the idea in Linda's head, you're involved. Now, Travis, what were times for each animal? Olivia?”

“Otters can move at 9 miles per hour,” he answered. She nodded.

“Donovan and Kathy?”

“Ferrets come in at about 15 though Donovan said they were going to run Kathy because she's faster.”

“That's already 6 miles faster than Olivia. What about David?”

“David is the hardest because he's a mule and because donkeys and horses are different speeds....”

“We'll come back to David,” Penelope said. “Luis?”

“Big Horn Sheep are 15 miles per hour,” Travis continued.

“You?”

“Labradors are between 20 and 30 miles per hour.”

“Linda?”

“Lions are 50 miles per hour.”

“So,” Penelope said. “If Maria is out, which she is. And Gina is out, which she is. And Bob and I aren't allowed to participate because we can fly, then Linda wins by about 20 miles per hour unless David is a very fast Mule. I've listened to Gordon enough to know that this isn't science because the human factor isn't going to change 20 miles per hour of a difference. So look, we do this the right way because I'm tired of being grounded. We invite Gordon to play, we split into separate categories. Birds get to play too. Maria, Gina, I'm sorry, but...”

“Still want to stay out of it anyway!” Gina exclaimed.

“I'm happy to watch with Susan,” Maria answered.

“Then let's go explain to them what we want to do and get them to agree,” Penelope said. David looked at her.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Simple,” she said. “I'm going to ask Gordon first and get him to convince Susan. As long as we aren't knocking anything over or hurting each other, Mr. Hooper won't care. And Gabi? Tell your mother to wipe that grin off her face.”

***

With wolves having a top speed reaching almost 40 and American Kestrels reaching around 39 when they weren't diving, both Gordon and Penelope agreed to race Linda. It had been remarkably easy to convince Gordon and sure enough, he'd been more than happy to convince Susan. The kids were all quickly getting to sidelines to watch so that the Protectors could race from Hooper's Store to the edge of the street. The second group consisted of Travis and David since both of their scores were more topsy-turvy. It could be ridiculously one-sided or an actual race and both agreed that worked for them. The final group of Luis, Olivia, Kathy, and Bob, since nightingales tended to be able to move around 18 miles an hour would go last and they agreed that they would time Luis on his own and then check it against the winner of the other three considering his size. 

Willy rested his head in Mr. Macintosh's lap while the latter snacked on a mango. Both of them were next to Susan who had allowed Maria to sit on her head for a better view. Mr. Hooper, while claiming a lack of interest, still was wheedled out by Susan to watch. Penelope landed on the awning of Hooper's, trying to stand still. Below her, Gordon and Linda both stood ready. Gabi was with them on this side while Miles was on the other. Tarah was at the side, being the one who let me know when to go. “Ready!” She exclaimed as Gabi signed for Linda, slightly in front of her. “Get set! Go!”

They took off. Linda pushed herself quickly to gain an easy lead while both Gordon and Penelope struggled for second. In the end, wolves were just a hair slower than kestrels and Penelope made it in for second place, flying around Miles' in victory. Linda was lying down again and Gordon looked at her, using his own paws in sign. _“Lions can only do that for a short burst, Linda.”_ He informed her. She looked at him.

_“I still won._ She signed proudly. _“And Penelope made second place so..._

Gordon nudged her. _“Don't rub it in.”_ He glanced up. “Hey! You planning on coming to congratulate Linda, Penelope?”

Penelope stopped and flew down to the ground though she still needed Miles' help for the actual signing. “Great job, Linda! Congrats!”

_“You too with Gordon!”_

“I'm still right here,” he reminded them, signing as he did so. His annoyance easily faded though. “And I'm proud of both of you. Linda, you kept moving even after you realized your mistake. And Penelope, I saw you pull up a few times so you wouldn't fall into a dive and accidentally cheat. I can take a loss for that.”

He helped nudge Linda up and they made their way over to Susan and the others. Linda easily took Maria while Gordon rested against Susan. Penelope landed next to Mr. Macintosh who patted her back gently as they continued to watch. The race between David and Travis wasn't as bad as it could have been though Travis absolutely won. David was, however, faster than the last group and decided that that was fine.

Luis made his run, which they timed, and then the last group stood ready. Bob hopped on the awning above the others while Donovan had climbed on Gabi's shoulders to feel more involved. They took off. Poor Olivia struggled to keep up, but it was clear that she was easily the slowest. Bob and Kathy made a showing of it, neck and neck until the final couple of seconds when Bob made his way in front to win between the two of them. Kathy practically knocked over Olivia in congratulating her on finishing while Bob was chirping happily above. They all looked to Miles.

“Bob was the winner, then Kathy, then Luis, and then Aunt Olivia,” he answered. There was plenty of cheering and congratulations to go around for everyone. The kids headed back over to play while the changed Protectors talked among themselves. So, they were all nearby when their force field pinged.

Mr. Hooper didn't hesitate but instead rushed to the edge of the force field as Penelope quickly followed, certain the others were following suit. A man stood on the other side, looking for all intents and purposes to be normal and around the same age as Mr. Hooper, Willy, and Mr. Macintosh. Mr. Hooper glared in his direction.

“Owen,” Mr. Hooper spat out.

“Hello, Harold,” Owen said, looking completely amused. “Careful. You'll ruffle your feathers.”

“What did you do?” Mr. Hooper demanded.

“Well, do you remember that last prank you pulled when I was still living on the street? I figured you wouldn't be expecting me to get you back now,” he said. He looked at Penelope who looked completely unamused. “Willy?”

“He's a goat,” Penelope informed him. The man looked taken aback and then groaned before laughing to himself.

“Of course there's probably more protectors,” he said. “It's been so long. So, how many are there?”

“You made a zoo, Owen,” Mr. Macintosh said as he made his way over. He reached out of the barrier and pulled the other man into a hug. Longer arms made for easier hugs. “You should have called.”

“We should have known,” Willy said. “No wonder the force field didn't stop the magic. It knew you weren't being cruel about it. Come on in.”

Mr. Hooper glared at them both. “You aren't helping.”

Owen looked over the larger group and blinked. “Okay. Let's get this fixed, huh? I figured that it would hit Oscar and the Count, but Oscar's always grouchy and the Count is a bit batty so I figured it wouldn't be that bad. Birds might want to get on the ground,” he said and snapped his fingers. Within seconds, they were all turned back to normal. Owen bowed to all of them. “I didn't mean to involve all of you. I'm sure you're all fine Protectors. I only meant to hit these three.”

“Umm... why?” Travis asked, making certain to sign to Linda.

“I used to live here years ago and the three of us were always messing around,” he answered. Mr. Hooper ignored the glances that kept falling toward his direction. “I didn't like staying in one place and Harold here convinced the others to do one last prank on me before I left. So, I promised I'd pay him back when he least expected it. Since none of us really age, I had a lot of time to work with. I just wasn't expecting for them to add in some many people while I was gone.”

He turned to Gabi, Miles, and Tarah who were just watching. “Let that be a lesson, kids. Always catch up with people you haven't seen in a while before you prank-curse them. Speaking of, glad you kids weren't caught up in this.”

“That is a terrible lesson!” Susan exclaimed.

“Don't corrupt the children!” Mr. Hooper added.

“I think it's a great lesson,” Penelope said dryly. “I was stuck as an American _Kestrel_ for two days because Mr. Hooper apparently was the prank king when he was young and none of you would even let me push Bob out of a tree for being extremely obnoxious.”

“Penelope, you are not helping,” Mr. Hooper hissed.

“Hey!” Bob said.

_“Considering how many times you sat on my head, you'd deserve it.”_ Linda informed him.

_“I said I was sorry!”_

_“You kept doing it!”_ Linda exclaimed. Penelope looked back at the others.

“What I say stands,” she said. “And he totally deserved it.”

“We do not push people out of trees,” Susan informed her, looking at Mr. Hooper who nodded his agreement. Gordon was no help whatsoever as he was trying not to laugh and very much trying to hide that fact when Susan was looking at him. “Gordon...”

“Bob could fly,” he said, now certain the danger of the 'kids' hurting each other had passed. “Don't do it now though, Penelope.”

“I won't,” she answered. Owen looked between them and then looked at his three friends with a beaming smile.

“You three made a family! So, who belongs to who?” He asked, looking at the assortment. Willy waved a hand at all of them and then motioned to Mr. Hooper's.

“They're his,” he answered. “But we helped.”

“When needed,” Mr. Macintosh agreed. 

“I am responsible for all of them,” Mr. Hooper said, having that be as far as it went as if that would actually work. Travis rolled his eyes and looked at Owen, mostly so that he could possibly get through the whole things before the older man broke his concentration. Penelope held in a groan as she recognized the look on Travis' face of his need to focus on actual information and ignore denial at the moment.

“Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Penelope are Mr. Hooper's,” he said, pointing to each person in turn. “Maria, Luis, David, Linda, Olivia, Gina, and me are Susan and Gordon's, though technically Olivia is Gordon's sister. Bob is connected to them in a whole other way but that's a different diagram. Miles is Susan and Gordon's adopted son. Gabi is Bob, Linda, Olivia, David, Maria, and Luis' daughter. Penelope and I are in charge of Kathy and Donovan. Also, you changed Bert and Ernie too so you're probably going to watch apologize to them too.”

“Travis!” Penelope and Mr. Hooper snapped at the same time. Owen raised an eyebrow.

“I see,” he answered. “Well, I'd like to apologize again for scaring all of you. You three deserved it, but I didn't mean to involve your children.”

Mr. Hooper looked at him. “Owen...”

Owen grinned. “And who would have thought you'd be the responsible one.”

“The Count,” Mr. Macintosh and Willy said easily. Owen nodded.

'True,” he agreed. “Well, I'd like to get to know the rest of the family.”

“We have a spare apartment you can use,” Gordon offered. “But no more cursing people.”

“I won't use a bit of magic while I'm here,” he promised. “I honestly would have aimed better if I would have known in the first place.”

“Owen?” Gabi asked, almost cautiously, holding Tarah's supportive hand while Miles just stood protectively behind her. “Miles was adopted, but I was born here. Mamá and Papá are my biological parents.”

Owen looked thoughtful and nodded in understanding. “I believe Travis mentioned that you had several parents?”

“Six,” she answered. He nodded. “But would I have been a mix of them? Mamá was a frog and Papá was a sheep. Would I have been a frog and sheep hybrid?”

For the first time, there was regret on his face without any amusement. “Gabi... it's Gabi, right?” He asked and she nodded. “The spell was specifically to be what you would most be like not what any of your parents are. You wouldn't be a hybrid because, my dear, you are your own person. You might be the same animal as one of your parents, but you certainly wouldn't be a hybrid of them, biological or not. And as for the non-biological part of it, none of the others shifted into the same thing, did they?”

“No,” Gabi answered, looking a lot more calm about it. Owen nodded to her.

“No matter which parent you're like, you might be your own thing,” he said. “Or you might take after a different family member such as Gordon or Susan. Susan is the mother here, right? With how much support and love you've gotten from this street, you could easily have been whatever she was. I'm afraid that there were so many Protectors that I didn't quite catch what everyone was. The point is, you will be your own unique person and that's what the animals represented. I'm sure that whatever you decided to be... whatever all three of you decide to be... you will make your families proud.”

Gabi looked completely relieved. “Thank you,” she said, before heading off to find her parents.

“Nice meeting you,” Tarah offered as she followed. Miles paused before following.

“Aim better,” he said before giving him a small smile and racing off. Owen looked over to see Penelope doing her level best to stay away from the lot of them, though watching in contentment.

“I think you're supposed to be involved in the victory hug,” Owen informed her. Penelope glanced over at him and moved slightly so he could stand next to her.

“Hugging still isn't my favorite activity,” she answered. “And it will take them a couple of minutes to realize I'm not there. I'm not as good at numbers as Travis or I'd give you an average, but long enough for me to catch my breath.”

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke up again. “Are my friends happy?” He asked, motioning to Mr. Macintosh, Mr. Hooper, and Willy. “I haven't seen them in a long time.”

“Why not?” She asked, not bothering to try to keep the accusation out of her voice.

“Because sometimes you forget that even if you don't change, the world keeps changing,” Owen answered. “And I was prideful enough to think that nothing would have changed for them either.”

Penelope nodded. “I think that they're happy,” she answered. “Willy and Mr. Macintosh have been together since I met them and sure, they have their disagreements, but they're happy together. Mr. Hooper doesn't look like it, but he enjoys having us around even if we do all drive him nuts. I met him once before Susan, Gordon, and Bob arrived. I think that each time one of us stayed, he softened a bit.”

“He got what he wanted?” Owen asked and Penelope laughed.

“I'm not sure about that,” she admitted. “He probably would have enjoyed quieter 'children'. The four of us tended to cause some trouble when we were younger. Gordon and Susan calmed down, but Bob joined up with the others to consistently find new and exciting ways to cause even more trouble. And I tend to be a bit verbally opinionated with him. Travis and Gina stay out of trouble, but every single one of the others don't. And then I brought back Donovan and Kathy on top of it. It's never quiet on Sesame Street.”

Owen nodded. “Sounds like he's having a blast,” he said. She looked at him in surprise. “Trust me. I knew him when he was young. He deserves all of you, good and bad traits. And he'd get bored if you were all extremely well-behaved.”

“Don't tell that to Bob or Linda,” she instructed. She stood up and dusted herself off. “You should visit more often, but try to leave us out of the pranking.”

“Thank you,” he said, shaking her hand. She took a step back, turned around, counted to four and was pulled into the group hug by one of the members, she didn't catch who had noticed. She glanced out to see Mr. Hooper, Mr. Macintosh, and Willy sitting down next to Owen to talk and focused her attention back to the rest of the family.

“What have we said about trying to hide?” David asked from over her shoulder. Well, he was probably the one that grabbed her then.

“Don't?” She offered, leaning into Gordon and trying not to squash Gabi. She could see on her left that Linda had apparently forgiven Bob already.

“And yet, we have to come find you every time,” Luis said with a snicker. She wondered if it would be dignified to stick her tongue out at at him and decided against it.

“You always find me,” she answered, reaching over and moving Miles slightly so she could be certain he was still able to breathe in this mess. Especially since Snuffy and Big Bird were involved now. She glanced over at how happy the various couples were and managed not to roll her eyes. “Gabi? Miles? Why don't you two spend the night with Travis and I tomorrow?”

There were two very fast agreements from the kids and sheepish laughter from the adults. She managed to meet Gina's eyes and knew that the other woman had had the same idea if Penelope hadn't offered. Gina looked at Alan. “How about you take the tomorrow off and Miles, Gabi, and I will help with the store?”

Alan looked at her gratefully. “Thank you.”

“Just because you didn't turn into a chipmunk or something doesn't mean you aren't family,” Penelope said drolly. Travis rested his head on Alan's shoulder as he was holding both Kathy and Donovan to him at the moment.

“You are definitely family,” he agreed. Penelope knew that Travis spent an inordinate amount of time helping with Alan's issues on the street. Alan wasn't a Protector, but he was a Very Important Member of the Street and a Member of the Family, Travis' punctuation used in this instance.

“Penelope?” Big Bird's voice rang over.

“Yes?”

“What was it like to be a bird that can fly?” He asked. Penelope remembered the wind and that one she got the hang of it, how she'd enjoyed it. She could see Rosita looking over in interest as well. She smiled.

“Do you remember when you were a lot younger? What I told you then?” She asked.

“About how I'm a special bird?” He asked and nodded.

“Well, I feel like a very special woman who can hug her family much better on the ground,” she answered, knowing full well her words were just going to repeat the same giant group hug that it had a moment before. She just couldn't bring herself to protest.


End file.
